If you play an evil character it’s gotta stick a little.
And if you’re a character-actor who always gets the evil role. If you play 100 evil guys. Then 100X moreso.
You get into the evil role. See the world through evil eyes and evil motivations.
And over time it’s gotta bend your personality towards real evilness. Right?
I suppose you could google evil-character-actors. 20 years later, how many got arrested for something heinous.
What do you think?
EDIT
Put more generally : Can habits gained in one context bleed over into another context?
Yes.
Do they?
Possibly. With increasing probability as the habit becomes stronger. And there’s self-awareness to consider. And how much the habit clashes with the new context.
No.
The same reason why playing violent games isn’t making people violent. It’s just playing.
I personally don’t think this is a thing. Acting is pretending. I used to LARP an evil character but it was all just role-playing. Being able to use one’s imagination and walk in another’s shoes (evil or not) doesn’t change who you are as a person. It just makes you a good actor.
How about a person who isn’t “a good actor”. A normal everyday person. Would the evil stick?
Nope. Test it if you want. Read the lines of a villain, idk Darth Vader or Dr Evil, and see if you feel more malevolent.
Well that would be a rather shallow assessment. Degrees of magnitude beneath “entering the skin of an evil person”.
But this is obvious.
Some of you people really don’t like this question. You can barely even think about it.
That’s interesting.
And look at those downvotes!
I don’t think that’s why you’re getting downvoted. You’re simply not listening to the replies and that is why most people are downvoting.
Does owning a Bobby Car as a child prepare you for the daily commute in heavy traffic as an adult? Does watching a scifi movie make you an astronaut? No. It’s all pretend and made believe. These days actors are in front of a big green backdrop anyways and the world exploding from your mischievous acts is completely CGI.
People have the ability to think. Have imagination and they can fantasize. The ability to try and understand whats going on in another person’s mind (evil or not) is what makes us able to have compassion, to socialize with other people.
I’d say if you’re an exceptional good actor and roleplay the evil villain very well… The same abilities that make you succeed in that also allow you to be nice to the barista that serves you your coffee the next day or empathize with the everyday struggles of your 12 y o daughter.
So the more in the skin of an evil person, the more nice a person.
I think that you are unreasonably attracted to ironic twists.
Did you get it, though? I can’t tell if you’re being genuine or shitposting.
(Wow, you discovered my kryptonite. Nothing compels me to openness like an accusation of dishonesty.)
But no, I see no good argument in your reply there. I think that habits from one context do indeed bleed over into another. I think it happens all the time. Yes, it can inform. And it can outright influence too.
Do you constantly eat mushrooms and slam your head into bricks after playing Mario?
The fact that this is No Stupid Questions and you are getting downvoted for your question is absurd.
I think the easy answer is- no, of course not. Acting is just pretending. And not even pretending alone, pretending in front of hundreds of people, lights, cameras etc… so I would think it would be very easy to differentiate between the character you are acting like and your actual self.
Maybe a little more nuanced answer- it might depend on the actor and the method. Look at Heath Ledger. His legendary portrayal of the Joker didn’t “turn him a little evil”, but it certainly fucked with his head.
I’m just postulating here:
I think OP would have received considerably less downvotes if they questioned around the logic that led to it, or if they didn’t mention their premise at all, just left the text body empty.
Like, OP is not coming from an exceptionally weird place with the question. We’ve seen a lot of questions coming from premises just as “stupid” as this one. So what’s different and why do I think it would have changed things?
Well, this thread isn’t simply asking if “Do Evil Actors usually become Evil People?” like the title implies. Something you can just say No to and then explain the premise behind why that wouldn’t make sense. Nah, with the body text, this thread is now closer to asking “Since acting malevolent makes you more malevolent, how do actors handle evil roles without falling prey to it?”. And people are taking issue with the first half of that, because now, OP’s questions sounds like it is arguing with the answer they had in mind. I think that’s where the emotional response comes to play and causes all the downvotes.
And perhaps OP didn’t meant to cause that at all.
I agree, we shouldn’t downvote OP. This is not very becoming of the community. But it is, at least if I’m right, a weird psychological glitch.
Considering OP is in the comments claiming people aren’t even able to entertain the notion I’m far less charitable about the very convoluted logic.
Hayden Christensen’s hobby is setting fire to seagulls. Alan Rickman used to make puppies wear unflattering fake moustaches. So that’s a definite yep. Probably.
Can I get a source on either?
You could get some sauce to go with the seagull.
No.
Example: Cliff Simon the actor who plays the System Lord Ba’al for 5 years did not raise an army of genetically engineered super soldiers and try to conquer earth. He was a windsurfing instructor
Oh man I loved teaching windsurfing
Cliff Simon the actor who plays the System Lord Ba’al for 5 years did not raise an army of genetically engineered super soldiers and try to conquer earth.
I mean the best we can say 8snthat he hasn’t tried to conquer Earth yet. I couldn’t call it either way on the supersoldiers.
Actually, not even that’s right - he could have tried but SG1 were very good about nipping threats in the bud without the public funding out. So McGyver and chums have possibly seen off any number of attacks and we wouldn’t know
A genuinely nice guy. RIP.
Yes. Willem DeFoe’s descent into a crime filled life all started when he said “I’ll get you Spider-Man!” The gateway to evil had been unlocked and there was no turning back. Very sad.
It would be kind of interesting to see if there’s a ratio of evil characters to their actors doing crimes. I mean the most obvious that comes to mind is Kevin spacey. Though it doesn’t seem to be higher rates for celebs that play evil characters vs ones that play lovable good characters. Least most don’t consider Bill Cosby or OJ Simpson to have played particularly evil characters. So I’d say in general money and fame cause an increase in likelyness of being evil, the on screen persona doesn’t seem to be a huge contributing factor.
That would make a nice little research project.
No. Actors are participating in storytelling, and ‘evil’ characters are just an exercise in symbolism and mythmaking.
From a larper perspective (so way more immersive than acting, and I played in amateur theatre and short movies) no.
Everybody understands that we need a villain for a story (even the Barbie movies has to break the Barbietopia tomake a fun movie) and being a villain on set (or in game) doesn’t mean you’re one in real life. A good larp villain need to be a fundamentally nice person, and take care of other players while insulting/torturing/assinating others.
People know the difference between fantasy and reality. Unless someone’s questionable anyway I don’t think pretending to be evil will change someone. People play violent video games and don’t tend to go out and shoot up their neighborhoods. Same thing.
Method actors… maybe. Depends on how deep they get into their characters.
Real actors? I’d say no.
Alan Rickman was universally known as the kindest, most generous and gentle soul. Yet he kick-started his movie career by playing one of the most memorable villains.
